British Airways supremo Willie Walsh is closing in on his last remaining “milestone” after holding talks with investors over a long-awaited dividend.
International Airlines Group, the owner of BA and budget airline Iberia, has not made a dividend payout to investors since its formation in 2011 as it goes through painful cost-cutting at the Spanish carrier, which has shed almost 5000 jobs. BA, meanwhile, paid its last dividend in 2008.
But Walsh, chief executive of IAG, dropped a broad hint that the company would finally set out publicly its path to a dividend at a capital markets day on 7 November.
”There’s still one big milestone to achieve and that’s the reintroduction of the dividend, one of the objectives we set out in the beginning,” he said.
“We’re definitely on track to do that but I won’t be satisfied until I’m sure we are in a position not just to introduce a dividend payment but to sustain a dividend payment.
“We have been consulting with investors about a dividend policy and taken feedback — although it’s not my decision, its a decision for the board.”
